Conservation-oriented restoration and its application to Central Asia

2022 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Volis
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Plant Conservation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Conservation Practices ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Wide Scale ◽  
Species Extinctions

Continuing wide-scale habitat degradation and species extinctions indicate that existing plant conservation practices are inadequate and new approaches are needed. I briefly summarize the major principles of a previously proposed concept called conservation- oriented restoration and compare it with two other approaches to tackling ecosystems' degradation and biodiversity loss: traditional restoration and species-targeted conservation. I then present my perspective on how this concept can be applied in Central Asia as a possible solution to the regional biodiversity crisis.

scholarly journals Avian extinctions induced by the oldest Amazonian hydropower mega dam: evidence from museum collections and sighting data spanning 172 years

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11979
Author(s):  
Luiza Magalli Pinto Henriques ◽  
Sidnei Dantas ◽  
Lucyana Barros Santos ◽  
Anderson S. Bueno ◽  
Carlos A. Peres
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Habitat Specialization ◽  
Hydroelectric Dams ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Lowland Tropical Forest ◽  
Influence Area ◽  
Tocantins River ◽  
Species Extinctions

Hydroelectric dams represent an emergent threat to lowland tropical forest biodiversity. Despite the large number of operational, under-construction, and planned hydroelectric dams, their long-term effects on biodiversity loss are still poorly documented. Here, we investigate avian extinctions resulting from the Tucuruí Hydroelectric Reservoir (THR), the oldest Amazonian mega dam, which impounded the Tocantins River in 1984. Our avian inventory—based on several sampling methods (mist-netting, point-counts, boat census and qualitative surveys) during 280 days of fieldwork from 2005 to 2007—was combined with an exhaustive search of museum vouchers and digital online databases of citizen science from the lower Tocantins River to identify long-term trends in species persistence and extinction in the THR influence area. The regional avifauna was comprised of 479 species, 404 of which were recorded during our fieldwork. Based on recent and historical records spanning 172 years, we found evidence for likely extinctions at THR influence area for 53 (11.06%) species that have remained entirely unreported since 1984. We were further able to estimate extinction probabilities for 20 species; 15 species were considered to be extinct, including Psophia interjecta and Pyrilia vulturina that are red-listed by IUCN. Our study serves as a baseline for avifaunal monitoring in the THR influence area and shows that degree of habitat specialization is a key factor in determining species extinctions caused by nonrandom habitat loss from either inundation or deforestation. Avian species extinctions will most likely continue across the area affected by the reservoir as a direct impact of alluvial forest loss and ongoing habitat degradation of upland forests.

scholarly journals Ecological Justice and the Extinction Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wienhues
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Species Extinction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Ecological Justice ◽  
Global Understanding ◽  
Ecosystem Benefits ◽  
Species Extinctions

As the biodiversity crisis deepens, this book sets out radical environmental thinking and action to respond to the threat of mass species extinction. The book conceptualises large-scale injustice endangering non-humans, and signposts new approaches to the conservation of a shared planet. Developing principles of distributive ecological justice, the book builds towards a bold vision of just conservation that can inform the work of policy makers and activists. The book begins with an overview of ecological justice, sometimes referred to as ecojustice. It refers to interspecies justice, which describes the author's relational and global understanding of the justice relationship between humans and nonhumans. The book seeks to present an account of global non-ranking biocentric distributive ecological/interspecies justice to wild nonhuman beings. It concludes that the human takeover of the Earth's ecological space — its resources, ecosystem benefits, and actual spaces — that ultimately leads to species extinctions constitutes an injustice, which should be discussed and responded to as a matter of justice. The book is a timely investigation into ethics in the natural world during the Anthropocene, and a call for biocentric ecological justice before it is too late.

scholarly journals Twenty-Three Years of Land-Use Changes Induced Considerable Threats to the Main Wetlands of Sardinia and Sicily (Italy) along the Mediterranean Bird Flyways

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 240
Author(s):  
Alessandro Ferrarini ◽  
Marco Gustin ◽  
Claudio Celada
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Natura 2000 ◽  
Global Level ◽  
Natura 2000 Network ◽  
Stopover Sites ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Agricultural Areas

Biodiversity loss has multiple causes, but habitat degradation through land-use change is the predominant driver. We investigated the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in preserving the main wetlands of the two largest islands of the Mediterranean region, whose conservation is critical for many avian species at European and global level, in a 23-year period (1990–2012). In Sardinia, the surroundings of 22 wetlands were affected by an increase in artificial areas (+64 ha/year) and decrease in agricultural (−54 ha/year) and natural (−17 ha/year) ones. In Sicily, the surroundings of 16 wetlands were impacted by an increase in agricultural areas (+50 ha/year) and decrease in natural and semi-natural ones (−62 ha/year). Results show that the Natura 2000 policies were effective in preserving wetlands (no shrinkages detected in both regions), but their surroundings experienced intense processes of degradation and artificialization in all the sub-periods considered (1990–2000, 2000–2006, 2006–2012), whose effects are now threatening waterbirds and wetland integrity. The enlargement of the existing Natura 2000 sites, the creation of new ones and the speedup of the application of the rules of the Habitats and Birds Directives seem necessary to counteract the rapid land-use changes around these important stopover sites.

Biodiversity will rise as an international priority

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Low Profile ◽  
Global Biodiversity ◽  
Climate Crisis

Significance No substantive agreements emerged. Global targets to limit biodiversity loss were agreed in 2010, but all were missed and biodiversity loss has accelerated. The 'Kunming Declaration' does indicate some political will, but any enforceable delivery plans will have to wait for the second part of COP15 next year. Impacts The global biodiversity crisis is arguably as serious and pressing as the climate crisis. The low profile of COP15 shows that the severity of the problem is not yet widely recognised. The goal of making 30% of earth's land and seas 'protected' by 2030 provides new focus; disputes will focus on what it actually means. As host, Beijing will want to demonstrate success and will put pressure on other governments. Biodiversity is difficult even to measure, making is extremely challenging to create clear structures for accountable implementation.

Mass Extinctions and the Structure and Function of Ecosystems

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 115-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pincelli M. Hull ◽  
Simon A. F. Darroch
Keyword(s):  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Ecosystem Change ◽  
Mass Extinctions ◽  
General Introduction ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
Ecosystem Effects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
And Function

Mass extinctions shape the history of life and can be used to inform understanding of the current biodiversity crisis. In this paper, a general introduction is provided to the methods used to investigate the ecosystem effects of mass extinctions (Part I) and to explore major patterns and outstanding research questions in the field (Part II). The five largest mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic had profoundly different effects on the structure and function of ecosystems, although the causes of these differences are currently unclear. Outstanding questions and knowledge gaps are identified that need to be addressed if the fossil record is to be used as a means of informing the dynamics of future biodiversity loss and ecosystem change.

scholarly journals Towards more meaningful scenarios of biodiversity responses to land-use change in Central Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Kamp ◽  
Martin Freitag ◽  
Norbert Hölzel
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Grazing Intensity ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Livestock Grazing ◽  
Land Use Patterns ◽  
Use Patterns

Abstract We here respond to Nunez et al. (Reg Environ Chang 20:39, 2020), recently published in Regional Environmental Change. Nunez et al. project biodiversity responses to land-use and climate change in Central Asia. Their projections are based on scenarios of changing socio-economic and environmental conditions for the years 2040, 2070, and 2100. We suggest that the predicted magnitude of biodiversity loss might be biased high, due to four shortfalls in the data used and the methods employed. These are (i) the use of an inadequate measure of “biodiversity intactness,” (ii) a failure to acknowledge for large spatial variation in land-use trends across the five considered Central Asian countries, (iii) the assumption of a strictly linear, negative relationship between livestock grazing intensity and the abundance of animals and plants, and (iv) the extrapolation of grazing-related biodiversity responses into areas of cropland. We conclude that future scenarios of biodiversity response to regional environmental change in Central Asia will benefit from using regional, not global, spatial data on livestock distribution and land-use patterns. The use of extra-regional data on the relationships between biodiversity and land-use or climate should be avoided.

scholarly journals Disrupted learning: habitat degradation impairs crucial antipredator responses in naive prey

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1830) ◽  
pp. 20160441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark I. McCormick ◽  
Oona M. Lönnstedt
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Coral Cover ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Alarm Cues ◽  
Chemical Alarm Cues ◽  
Pomacentrus Amboinensis ◽  
Threat Cues ◽  
Habitat Generalist ◽  
Predator Learning ◽  
First Time

Habitat degradation is a global problem and one of the main causes of biodiversity loss. Though widespread, the mechanisms that underlie faunal changes are poorly understood. In tropical marine systems, corals play a crucial role in forming habitat, but coral cover on many reefs is declining sharply. Coral degradation affects the olfactory cues that provide reliable information on the presence and intensity of threat. Here, we show for the first time that the ability of a habitat generalist to learn predators using an efficient and widespread method of predator learning is compromised in degraded coral habitats. Results indicate that chemical alarm cues are no longer indicative of a local threat for the habitat generalist (the damselfish, Pomacentrus amboinensis ), and these cues can no longer be used to learn the identity of novel predators in degraded habitats. By contrast, a rubble specialist and congeneric ( Pomacentrus coelestis ) responded to olfactory threat cues regardless of background environment and could learn the identity of a novel predator using chemical alarm cues. Understanding how some species can cope with or acclimate to the detrimental impacts of habitat degradation on risk assessment abilities will be crucial to defining the scope of resilience in threatened communities.

scholarly journals Daphniid zooplankton assemblage shifts in response to eutrophication and metal contamination during the Anthropocene

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1859) ◽  
pp. 20170865 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Alta Rogalski ◽  
Peter R. Leavitt ◽  
David K. Skelly
Keyword(s):  
Metal Pollution ◽  
Metal Contamination ◽  
Heavy Metal Contamination ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Ecological Communities ◽  
Gamma Diversity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Community Shifts ◽  
Historical Variation

Human activities during the Anthropocene result in habitat degradation that has been associated with biodiversity loss and taxonomic homogenization of ecological communities. Here we estimated effects of eutrophication and heavy metal contamination, separately and in combination, in explaining zooplankton species composition during the past 125–145 years using analysis of daphniid diapausing egg banks from four lakes in the northeastern USA. We then examined how these community shifts influenced patterns of diversity and homogenization. Analysis of past lake production (via subfossil pigments) and metal contamination (via sedimentary metals) demonstrated that eutrophication alone (19–39%) and in combination with metal pollution (17–54%) explained 36–79% of historical variation in daphniid species relative abundances in heavily fertilized lakes. In contrast, metal pollution alone explained the majority (72%) of historical variation in daphniid assemblages at the oligotrophic site. Several species colonization events in eutrophying lakes resulted in increased species richness and gamma diversity through time. At the same time, daphniid assemblages in three eutrophied lakes became more similar to each other (homogenized), but this pattern was only seen when accounting for species presence/absence. We did not observe consistent patterns of divergence between the assemblages in the eutrophying lakes and the low-nutrient reference site. Given the pervasive nature of fertilization and metal pollution, and the sensitivity of cladocerans to these factors, we suggest that many inhabited lake districts may already exhibit similar patterns of daphniid assemblage shifts.

scholarly journals Ecological Justice and the Extinction Crisis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Wienhues
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Species Extinction ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Biodiversity Crisis ◽  
New Approaches ◽  
Ecological Justice

ePDF and ePUB available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. As the biodiversity crisis deepens, Anna Wienhues sets out radical environmental thinking and action to respond to the threat of mass species extinction. The book conceptualises large-scale injustice endangering non-humans, and signposts new approaches to the conservation of a shared planet. Developing principles of distributive ecological justice, it builds towards a bold vision of just conservation that can inform the work of policy makers and activists. This is a timely, original and compelling investigation into ethics in the natural world during the Anthropocene, and a call for biocentric ecological justice before it is too late.

Spatial conservation prioritization considering socioeconomic costs and degradation conditions in the Southwest China Biodiversity Hotspot

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Wei Fu ◽  
Qi Ding ◽  
Zhe Sun ◽  
Tao Xu
Keyword(s):  
Southwest China ◽  
Habitat Degradation ◽  
Ecological Integrity ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Biodiversity Hotspot ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Network Coverage ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Key Species ◽  
Spatial Conservation Prioritization

Summary There have been calls for the expansion of protected areas (PAs) to tackle the ongoing biodiversity loss, yet it is unclear where future PAs might help to protect biodiversity in degraded landscapes under the conservation planning principles of complementarity, connectivity and cost-effectiveness. Our conservation goal is to increase the PA network coverage to up to 30% of the landscape of the Zhangjiang River Basin for target species in the karst area of southwest China, a global biodiversity hotspot. Zonation 4GUI was used to evaluate the adequacy of current PAs and to strategically expand PAs while maximizing the coverage of target species and considering ecological integrity and socioeconomic activities. The results show that significant habitat degradation has occurred across 77.9% of the basin. The current PAs cover 6.3% of the site and represent 8.7% of the total distribution of key species. With regards to the threshold of protection of 30% of the area, protecting an additional 27.2% of the site under an ecological integrity prioritization scenario and a scenario of the socioeconomic costs involved in iteration would cover 93.5% and 80.4% of the ranges of the key species, respectively. Our results can be used to inform the upcoming actions associated with karst area conservation-related policies.

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